We've all go them; some you've known forever others not so much; some you might not like at all but, we all live in close proximity to each other for better or worse. Last week my Retriever and a cat mixed it up in my fenced backyard that the cat entered. After the chase chaos the cat ended up in my large Oak tree while my dog was left with scratches on his nose just missing an eye. Figuring this was a stray I took him to our vet yesterday for his checkup and he is good to go. The cat never came down out of the tree. The temps have been in the high 90's with high humidity but, the cat stayed in the tree. We called Animal control and they said" we don't do that (get cat's out of trees there are companies that will (try)?

I figured, If it won't come down then it will die and Then I'll have to remove it.

Fast forward to today, My wife tells me the owners of the cat ask if they could come get it out of the tree as they have heard it crying every night for the past five days; (my home office is literally 30 feet away from this large oak and I haven't heard a peep from this cat even when I take my dog outside; the "owners" live across the street and my neighbor guy (same guy who cut a branch off a tree in his front yard which then got caught up in a power line promptly knocking out our power) two doors down also said they heard it too.

Mind you all of these people were in my backyard uninvited with the owners (older girls), waving a can of cat food at the cat who is some 15-20 feet above them while her sister and the guy down the street stood around. Once we figured out they owned the cat my wife told them by all means come and get it. The guy down the street pulled my 28 foot ladder off of it's stowage rack and raised it up into the tree then told my wife he didn't know how to do the rope that extends it further hung around then left. The girls continued calling the cat who at one point almost got down but didn't.

I finally went outside and sized up the situation; I went into my shed and grabbed a piece of 10 foot molding I had and gave it to one of the girls and instructed her to place some cat food on the tip to attract the cat; didn't work; it wouldn't take the bait.

I adjusted the ladder and told the one of the girls that I will hold the ladder and for her to go up and hopefully grab the cat; her reply, "i"m afraid of heights"; me "don't look down".

(Did I mention that I was sound asleep when this started and haven't even had breakfast yet?) I then decide that I would have try to and get the damn thing out of the tree one way or the other so I took some food up and placed it on the tree branch where the cat just sniffed it but, stayed out of range; it then came close enough to rub up against my hand but, again, moved away when I attempted to grab it. Now that I knew the cat would at least come closer I went and put on a jacket and heavy leather gloves (did I mention it's July and already humid after an overnight rain? Besides, I don' want to get bit or scratched.)

Did I mention I"m wearing pajamas pants?; back up the ladder I go dressed for battle; I now held out a cup of water which the cat came over to investigate when it got close I grabbed it by the back of the neck/head and maneuvered it around the ladder as it whined and began to resist. Lucky for me it couldn't bite or scratch me and I climbed down and gave them their cat.

My wive asked them how it got out and they said" they leave it out at night" and they had listen to it for a week; the cat was a male and my wife asked if they had him not neutered their reply" we don't do that"; both of them dumber that the proverbial box of rocks.

Everybody left and I had to wrangle my ladder down, restowed it and cleanup up so I could eat.

...story continues. Neighbors currently filing lawsuit to press charges for damages and emotional distress to both cat and girls. Only asking for a small donation of collage tuition for one or both girls to drop the issue. Guy down the street wants new car to compensate for muscle pulled while setting up your ladder without permission.